An energy management system (EMS) can be used to manage (e.g., control) the energy consumption of a facility. An EMS can be any system capable of controlling the loads of the facility that consume energy. For example, an EMS of a residential home can be, and/or include, a thermostat.
In order to operate previous EMSs, however, a user may need to be at a fixed location, such as at the location of the EMS itself, or at the location of a computer based operational terminal for the EMS. As such, if the user is not at one of these fixed locations, he or she may be unable to manage the energy consumption of the facility.
Additionally, utilities may attempt to communicate with their customers to enable their customers to better manage the energy consumption of their facilities. For example, a utility may send a customer energy prices and/or notifications of upcoming demand response events (e.g., instances in which the utility may attempt to manage the demand for electricity by their customers in response to electricity supply conditions).
In previous approaches, however, the customer may need to be at a fixed location to receive such communications from the utility. As such, if the user is not at the fixed location, he or she may not be able to receive such communications from the utility, and hence may not be able to utilize such communications to better manage the energy consumption of his or her facility.